


Some Things Stay the Same

by Raphiael



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-23
Updated: 2014-08-23
Packaged: 2018-02-14 10:03:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2187597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raphiael/pseuds/Raphiael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a flight with Tana over Frelia's mountains, Eirika tries to address the changes forced by the war. But some things don't have to change, and others might change for the better. (Mild and brief mentions of death, warfare, injury.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Things Stay the Same

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lizzledpink](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizzledpink/gifts).



> Thanks to rosage and MadameTiresias for the beta and feedback!

Eirika's nose and ears were still numb, though her fingers had started to fully regain feeling thanks to the steaming cup of cider clasped between them. Tana didn't look nearly as bad off; her face was flushed, but it was flattering against her dark hair and eyes, like the color belonged there as much as Tana belonged in the freezing skies.

She'd flown with Tana before, but only for brief spans, never anything as long or as high as they'd done together that afternoon. Frelia's mountains were even more spectacular seen from mid-sky, glimmering white in the sunlight like Tana's mount, and the sky had never looked as clear as it did from behind the other girl. And, more than that, the safety that came from her arms wrapped tight around Tana's torso was something Eirika already missed, even know that they were both inside where she could hear Tana's voice without gales swallowing her words. 

"I don't know how you do that every day," Eirika said, trying not to let her teeth chatter. "It was beautiful, but... are you always up that high?" 

Tana flashed her a smile and shook her head. "Higher, usually," she answered after taking a long sip of her drink. Eirika sampled hers as well; it was the same familiar blend of sweetness and spice she remembered from her youth. 

"It was amazing. I never realized, really." Somehow, she couldn't quite meet Tana's eyes when she complimented her, but the chimelike laugh that followed made her want to look. 

"Just... don't tell Innes I took you. He gets wound up enough that I'm up there. I'm sure thinking of you like that would set him right off." Tana laughed again — Eirika looked up to watch this time, taking note of every freckle on the other girl's cheeks, the way the candlelight hit her eyes. It had been so long since they'd had time alone like this. Somehow it felt different than the afternoons they used to spend watching their brothers chase each other up ice-glazed hills and wrestle in the snow. 

"Let's not talk about Innes," Eirika said.  
"Only if you agree not to talk about Ephraim." 

He'd been too busy to come, he'd said, and Eirika had tried to understand. But he was too busy for everything lately: for Renais, for Grado, for his friends, for her. She swallowed her sip of cider a bit too hard and looked away again, forcing a nod. 

"Unless you _need_ to talk about him," Tana added. "I'll listen, if you want, but remember — I'm your friend, too." 

"No, it's... it's nice to be here without him." Was that treacherous of her to say? Eirika half wanted to take it back, even if it was true. "I know that's awful of me to say, but he's... we're..." 

Tana seemed to know better than to _ask are you fighting?_ like Eirika knew others might. She shook her head and reached for Eirika's hand instead, clasping their fingers together. 

"You're allowed to be tired, too. Just because you aren't running back and forth from Grado all the time doesn't mean things are easy for you. It's all right."  
It wasn't the chipper reply Eirika had come to expect from Tana. Her smile was gentler than she remembered it, but somehow, more honest than the ever-present cheer she remembered so vividly. 

"I'm not complaining." 

"I know." 

"I just... I worry, I suppose. I'm meant to be queen now, but still... I come back here, and your father still sees me as a child. And Ephraim does, too, I think. I'll always be his little sister." Tana nodded. If anyone might understand that, it was her. "And then... he goes off to Grado, and barely sees me at all when he's home, and acts like everything's fine when I know it's not — " 

"But it's not just that, right?" Tana leaned forward, clasping Eirika's hand tighter as she did. Her gaze didn't wander from Eirika's at all, but the smile was gone, replaced by a look too serious for the Tana Eirika was accustomed to. "I know you worry about him, but it's not just that, is it?" 

Maybe Tana had always been able to see through her like that, and Eirika had just never realized it. Or maybe things really had changed more than she'd thought. It wasn't as if Frelia didn't have its own troubles. She'd encountered plenty of villagers who'd lost children and spouses to the war, seen scars and worse with her own eyes, and she'd only been in the country for a couple of weeks. Tana had to have seen far more and far closer, a different kind of devastation than Eirika knew in Renais, but not a lesser one.  
All of them had grown up, it seemed. 

"You're right," Eirika answered finally. Her cup was empty, but she kept it clasped firmly between both hands, a comforting weight, like her now-useless bracelet still was and the sword at her side used to be. "I shouldn't be dishonest with you." Perhaps less so with her than with anyone else. 

She took a deep breath to steady herself, trying to keep her voice and stance firm like she might while facing an enemy on the battlefield. Ephraim always tended to do the same when he had to tell her something difficult. She couldn't remember when she'd picked it up, but somehow it always made her feel a bit stronger. 

"It's just... maybe this sounds childish of me. But since the war, I really wonder... can things really ever go back to being the same?" As Eirika spoke, Tana didn't look away, but she flinched ever so slightly. Maybe she'd been thinking the same thing. "We've done so much to rebuild Renais, and I know Frelia suffers as well, but... no matter what we put back together, we can't go back to just visiting and exchanging letters like little girls anymore. We're... I'm a queen now. It's different, isn't it?" 

Part of Eirika expected Tana to say, _why not?_ Instead, Tana pulled herself to the end of the chair so her knees and Eirika's nearly touched. It was less close than they'd been in the sky, with Eirika's arms tight around Tana's waist, but somehow, it felt more intimate. Maybe it was the crackle of the fire, or the fat white snowflakes against the black sky through the window. Or maybe it was just the way she could look up and meet with Tana's concerned eyes, instead of having to imagine her expression from the back of a pegasus and strain to hear her voice at all. 

"Things aren't ever going to be exactly the same, no. Not for either of us, I think. Even what we have now might not last. But... sometimes what we want changes too, don't you think?" 

"What do you mean?" Eirika couldn't imagine wanting this — her father dead, her country ravaged, too many friends and allies buried or abandoned, her brother distant even when he was close at her side. 

"I mean... when I was younger, I used to think about how nice it might be to marry Ephraim." Eirika remembered that, of course, but the look on Tana's face wasn't the dreamy one she recalled. It was wistful, but fixed only on her. Eirika found herself pulling closer, too, finally leaving her cup on the table at her side and clasping Tana's hands in return.

"He was — I mean, he _is_ wonderful. And... if I married him, you and I would almost be sisters." 

"You don't want to marry him anymore?" 

Tana's laugh came as a surprise, but not as much as the hand moving up to Eirika's face and running through her hair. 

"Not any more than I want to be just your sister, silly." 

It sounded almost like an invitation. Eirika wasn't fully decided on whether it was or not before she crossed the short distance left between them for a kiss that was neither quick nor indecisive. If it hadn't been Tana's intention, she made no show of it — the arms thrown suddenly over Eirika's shoulders made her think quite otherwise. 

They drew apart, with reluctance Eirika thought was mutual, but she couldn't help but apologize anyway. 

"That was so forward of me, and I — well — I wasn't sure if you — ah, I mean, I didn't know if you knew —" 

Tana laughed again, gentler now that they were so close. "Did you think I didn't notice you holding on so tight?" 

"It was that obvious?" 

"You've never been afraid of heights." 

Eirika knew she might have blushed at that when she was younger, but she could only laugh quietly in response. "I suppose that's fair," she said. "We can't... we can't likely see each other as often or as easily as we used to, not now that Ephraim's spending so much time in Grado, and... well, other things might change, too. I know that. But this?" 

Tana wound her fingers back between Eirika's and drew close again. "Even if it's not all the time, we can still have this. And... there's really no reason why we can't exchange letters, like we did before." A wry smile crossed her face. "You just have to be better about writing back than your brother."

 _Don't set the bar that low,_ Eirika almost said, but she drew in close for another kiss, less sudden, more gentle, like she felt like she'd wanted to for ages. Even if every evening couldn't be like this, she intended to make this one last as long as she could. 

 


End file.
